After The Blast
by Charmed-Triquetra
Summary: One-shot fic about what happened after Piper and Leo left the destroyed remains of the Manor in Kill Billie Vol. 2


_**A/N- **This is just a one-shot story to add onto the end of Kill Billie Vol. 2. Since we never saw Paige's body, we don't know what happened to her. We just assume she, like Phoebe, died in the blast. What if she didn't and Piper and Leo just left her? _

_Well, here's my take on the story of the aftermath of the blast before time was reset..._

"Hi, you've reached Paige Matthews, please leave your message after the beep."

Henry slammed his mobile phone shut in frustration and put it back on his desk. Paige had meant to meet him after work, but she had never showed- that had been three hours ago. Since he had lost his keys, which he now suspected to be the work of a fairy, he couldn't go home until his wife made an appearance.

At first he had been irritated at her for not letting him know that she wasn't able to come, but now he was sickeningly worried that something might have happened to her. She had mentioned to him about a big battle on the horizon and how her brother-in-law could come home once it was won, but he could barely wrap his head around it all. Now he was terrified that maybe the battle had finally happened, but not in the way his wife and her sisters had planned. He had seen demons vanquished before and, right now, images of the same thing happening to Paige were running through his mind, tearing at his sanity.

He shook his head to clear away the disturbing images and picked up his phone to try her again. However, before he could press 'Call', there was an eruption of noise coming from outside his office. Something big had just happened.

He jumped out of his seat and tripped over the bin as he ran out into the main room, where many of his colleagues were on the phone, answering calls from various distressed people. A couple officers were putting in calls to the emergency services, and Henry overheard someone calling Homeland Security. He felt a stabbing pain in his heart, knowing that Paige had once worked with them. He hoped to the Gods, the Elders- whoever- that there was no connection between this apparent disaster and his wife's disappearance.

A couple officers started heading out, so Henry rushed over and intercepted them at the door,

"What's all this? What's going on out there?" The officers looked grim and watched the panicked parole officer with a guarded expression.

"There have been calls from several houses in the area about an explosion on Prescott and Pine," the female officer said bleakly, "They're saying that they think the house was completely destroyed, and that there were cars outside so they think people may have been hurt."

Prescott and Pine. Prescott and Pine. _No… no…_ Henry stumbled back, feeling that his worst fears had been confirmed. As the two officers started to leave once more, Henry stepped closer to them again,

"I'm coming with you."

"Mitchell, you're a parole officer." The male officer stated firmly, "There is no-"

"You don't understand!" Henry raised his voice, his panic now plain to see, "My sister-in-law lives in that area- my wife might be over there. I'm going with you!"

Without waiting for a response, Henry grabbed his jacket and followed the police officers out to their car.

"Come on, we have to go." Leo told his wife, fighting to keep his voice level and be strong. The last thing he had expected to see when he returned from suspended animation was his home blown apart and the broken form of his soulmate crying over the dead body of her sister. Nor had he expected to see Piper try and kill the young witch that she and her sisters had welcomed into the family. But right now, the most important thing was to get Piper away from here. She was beside herself with grief and was in no condition to deal with startled neighbours, much less the authorities who, they could hear, were coming.

Piper was reluctant, scanning the damage for Paige, who they had yet to find. Leo pulled her attention back to him and looked into her eyes,

"There's nothing for us here." He said gently and helped her up as more tears streamed down her bloodied face. She leant on him as they stumbled away from the debris. Coughing, she dragged her feet to get Leo to slow down,

"Paige..." she choked out. Leo looked at her with apology. As much as neither of them were willing to admit it, if Phoebe was killed in the battle, chances were that Paige would have been as well. There was no way Piper could handle seeing the dead body of another sister, to have the final confirmation that she was the last Halliwell left.

"No..." she let out in a small voice, looking back at the remains of her childhood home. Her eye caught a large pile of charred metal, which she soon recognised as a VW Beetle- its gecko green paint job now completely obliterated as a result of the explosion. Her face crumpled into tears and she buried her face in her husband's shoulder as he led her away from the wreckage.

As Paige slowly regained consciousness, the pain was the first thing to hit her. It felt like she had been thrown against every wall and then battered by several sharp objects before being left on a bed of nails. Considering what had just happened, this probably wasn't far from the truth.

She could feel warm liquid flowing down her forehead, and lifted her protesting arm to wipe it away before it reached her eyes. She knew without seeing that it was blood, and she guessed that if she tried touching the wound of origin, it would hurt like hell. So she decided to leave it well enough alone until she could summon a whitelighter to heal her.

She opened her eyes and gasped in horror as she saw the large piece of rubble on her stomach. If she even flinched the wrong way, it would definitely crush her. Closing her eyes, she concentrated as much as she could and orbed out from under the rubble.

Feeling her feet touch the floor and hearing the pillar fall to the ground, she opened her eyes and found herself safely a couple feet away from where she had been. Unfortunately, the orbing had sapped her of her remaining strength and she sagged to the floor. The pain hit her in waves and she could feel parts of her body shutting down.

_No!_ She scolded her body _I have had worse injuries than this and been fine. I will not pass out and I will not die. As soon as I get a-_

Her thoughts came to a sudden halt when she saw a familiar figure lying several feet away. It was, without doubt, Phoebe.

"Phoebe!" she attempted to call out, but found her throat could barely manage a croak. Struggling to pull herself to her feet, she stumbled towards Phoebe, who didn't appear to be moving. Her foot caught on something, and she slammed back into the floor, the jagged edge of the remains of the grandfather clock tearing a gash in her chest as she went down. Screaming in agony, she rolled to see what she had tripped over and was horrified to find herself face to face with the charred body of, what appeared to be, Christy Jenkins. Beside her was one of Billie's shoes. She gulped down the bile that rose to her throat and tried to stand up, but found her pain doubled if she tried, her leg now twisted out of place. Grabbing hold of anything on the floor that she could, she dragged herself across the ground towards her sister.

Finally reaching her, she pulled herself into a seated position and shakily felt Phoebe's neck for a pulse. There wasn't one, and her skin was cold. Tears of panic started to fall from her stricken brown eyes. She shook her head furiously,

"No! Phoebe, wake up!" She thrust her hands above Phoebe's chest and channelled all her energy into healing her. She didn't care if it killed her, as long as she could save her sister. She saw a faint glowing in her hands as her power activated, but then it sputtered out. She tried again. And again. But there was no use- she didn't have the strength to use any of her powers.

She pushed herself onto her knees and started pushing on Phoebe's chest to get her heart going. As she leant in to give her CPR, Paige's already damaged knee moaned in agony and her chest wound felt as though it was getting deeper and bigger, but Paige didn't care. She gathered as much strength she could muster and called out for Piper.

Precious minutes went by, and there was no reply- the air silent apart from car alarms and approaching sirens. She looked down at her sister as tears dropped onto her colourless skin. She leant her head back and screamed with all her might. She hadn't felt this kind of pain since that fateful car crash back when she was seventeen. Her world was crashing around her- sure, the enemy had been defeated, but Phoebe was dead and Leo was nowhere to be seen. At this point, there was no doubt in her mind that Piper was gone too, after seeing what the blast had done to the others. She doubled over and felt like she was being stabbed, her body starting to shake. She ignored the pain and rocked back and forth to soothe herself.

She faintly remembered back to the first day she met Phoebe, at Prue's funeral. That day, she had already lost her big sister and had no idea. For years, she had yearned to know Prue the way Piper and Phoebe had. Being with the two remaining Halliwells had been the best thing to happen to her- at a point where she'd had no family, she had suddenly found everything she had been searching for since the day she found out she was adopted. She felt as though she'd never had to feel alone again. And it had started with the day she had shown up randomly at a funeral.

And now it would all be ending with another funeral. She had no one left.

She sensed someone rush to her side and touch her shoulder.

"Paige? Paige!" An urgent sounding male voice rung in her ear. She looked up into the concerned eyes of Henry Mitchell. Her loving husband. He was so wonderful, he'd given her so much. And she had thanked him by standing him up and making him worried sick about her. As his eyes flooded with relief to see that she was alive, she began to cry even more.

He gently held her in his arms, recognising her injuries and trying hard not to say anything about Phoebe's body. He called out for help, and they waited for the paramedics to find them. She looked up with him with a pained expression,

"They're all gone. Everyone. They-"

"Ssh, shh…" Henry ran his fingers through Paige's singed hair to soothe her. He took off his jacket and wrapped it around her to keep her warm, "It's going to be okay, you need to relax. Breathe."

"I… can't…" Paige struggled to speak. Although the tears were running freely, she could feel the rest of her body giving up. She realised to herself that her injuries were too serious for her to get through this. And, without her sisters, she wasn't going to have the power to call a whitelighter. She was going to die here.

"H.. Hen…ry…" she choked, "I'm… not… going to…"

"No, don't say such things." Henry whispered to her, "You're going to be fine. You just need to hold on. We'll call another whitelighter. What about your father? Can you call him?"

"No… power…" She replied softly. "He won't… he won't hear me… he won't…"

"Then I will." Henry said, mildly acknowledging the paramedics carrying away a body and walking towards Phoebe. He looked up to the sky,

"Sam!" He cried out, hoping that somehow this man will hear him, "Your daughter needs you!" A paramedic looked at him strangely and started to tend to Paige. Henry glared at him fiercely,

"No! Stay away from her!" He stared up to the sky again and yelled for Sam. Nothing happened. He heard his wife murmur and looked down at her. She smiled at him,

"Thank you… for everything… you've given… me." She coughed violently, and blood literally jumped from her chest wound. Henry wiped the sweat from her brow,

"Paige, don't- just, hold on." As he took in a deep breath to call for Sam again, Paige put her hand on his,

"I love you." She said, her voice firm as it could be, and she stared into his eyes. Her own eyes closed and her hand dropped from his. Henry began to hyperventilate, and pulled Paige onto his lap. He shook her, trying to rouse her, but she wouldn't awaken.

Growling with a mixture of fury, grief and depression, Henry buried his face in Paige's hair and sobbed for his lost love.

Paige stood up, hearing her husband's desperate crying in her mind. She looked around, but she saw no evidence of the damage that had surrounded her moments ago. The world was completely blank apart from the basic formation of Prescott Street. She recognised this place from a year ago when she had almost died. It was the Ghostly Plane.

Which meant that she was dead. Oh God.

After a few moments, she began to register two figures watching her from the foundation of the Manor. Two women. She began to approach them and recognised one.

"Phoebe!" She ran into her sister's arms, who immediately accepted her and held her close. Relieved to see her again, Paige began to weep once more.

"Paige, oh my God!" She pulled back from her crying sister and smoothed down her hair. They stared at each other for a few moments, not needing to say anything about what had happened to them. Their attention was immediately drawn to the other woman with them.

Through her tear clouded vision, Paige saw raven black hair, sharp blue eyes and a pale skin tone that rivalled her own. She wiped her tears away as Phoebe put her arm around the strange woman.

"Paige… this is Prue."

The eldest and the youngest Halliwell looked at each other in wonder, conflicted between the joy of finally meeting and the sadness of the circumstances. However, the only thought that rung in the mind of all three women was Piper. The last sister standing.

At the moment, the world felt as though it were moving, and both Paige and Phoebe clutched their stomachs, suddenly feeling disorientated and ill.

"What's going on?" Phoebe said to Prue, who seemed to be unaffected.

"Time is resetting." She explained, and then smiled warmly, "Piper never gives up."

Paige looked at her, unable to speak. This would be the only time she'd ever hear Prue speak. And she'll never remember it.

And then everything went black.


End file.
